Seen and Unseen

with my friend Mrs Judge of Windsor. Our route was via Paris, and I had arranged to spend a week there in the same h

tess of Caithness and Duchesse de Pomar," and thinking it would interest

for the afternoon, but she promised to "put in an appearance" later. So Mrs Judge and I drove off to

lady, and had heard her spoken of as a more or less hopeless lu

ithness was an extremely shrewd woman, with her head remarkably "well screwed on," as the saying is. As regards her claims to be

eard Lord Monkswell propound an interesting theory, with Archdeacon Wilberforce in the chair, to the effect that as one short earth life gave small scope for spiritual experience and development, he thoug

ly (as was the case with Lord Monkswell), but as a matter of conviction, and ap

bted fact. The hall and rooms on the ground floor of the Avenue Wagram House were arranged and furnished in close imitation of Holyrood Palace. I counted over fifty miniatures and other

n to this fi

niently keen sense of humour found onl

he occasion, but not laughable. Lady Caithness, in addition to geniality, had enough quiet dignity to carry off the lace and jewels with success. I was chiefly amused by the attitude of adoring humility and flattering appreciatio

upon his lips as he discoursed to us about new readings of old truths, one

anaged to turn round to her with a cheery "Ah, Madame la Comtesse! pour le Melchisedech-nous reviendrons tout de suite à Melchisedech!" All the affairs of the religious universe were being wound up at a similar pace and in like fashion, and this final word of cheerful assuranc

was wors

urned round, and addressed M. l'Abbé in laboured and extremely British F

'est le Protestantisme qu

und upon her

No print can convey the utter sco

augh of the genial, good-tempered woman: "Moi, Mademo

th the exception of this good lady, all present

dish friend, who had only just arrived, and "missed all the fun." She told me there was to be a séance held in the house next day, and that she had been asking th

cordially expressed her regrets that she co

d meeting here-all the well-known people in Paris will come-and M. l'Abbé will read his paper explaining that he can no longer blind his eyes to the new light breaking upon the world through scientific discovery, etc., but that he remains a loyal son of the Church, if the Church will allow him to do so

prehension of her point, and added that I was only sorry she

ld at three p.m., in a large room on the ground floor, which is arranged

vant a woman as Lady Caithness must have noticed my dif

rügel in expressing disappointment about the next evenin

t will come about; nothing could be more decided than what we have just hear

ed by the morning's post. "Local letters often come by second p

te was half way through its course. No letter on my plate! So Madame Brügel and I agreed that the wish

however, a dépêche l

rday," she wrote, "but I said only what was the exact truth, as matters then stood. It is the Queen herself who has communicated with me this morning, and insists

ess, where she "received" in general, quite after the ma

hangings. On the wall behind this, was a very valuable fresco painting, representing Jac

tepped down some marble stairs into a small but exquisitely appointed room. It was a sort of chapel, in fact, built "by the Queen's instructions," and used for all purposes and occasions of direc

hat a hidden lamp threw its soft light on the features; whilst the hanging velvet curtains of deep crimson on either side con

the way in which this impression was conveyed

hter, and "Harpy" was written large over either countenance. Doubtless they were very good mediums, in spite of this fact. They must have been so, unless one supposes th

g only one solid support to it, coming from the centre, passing down as a single wooden pillar, a

the Abbé, and the Countess sat exactly opposite to me, with a p

t young French lady, who was writing automatically all the time; a secretary to t

words of prayer from the A

ed to come from within the wood, as in ordinary "raps," when these are genuine, but it was far louder and more rapid and decided than the usual séance rap. There was no hesitation, no gathering up of force. Any amount of vitality was evidently present, and the intelligence, from whatever source, was unerring. The Countess and I were the only two persons who held the alpha

nd then the table swayed slowly to and fro in a very reverent and characteristic

impossible that the Harpies could be producing them by any unlawful methods, whilst sitting in full li

out making investigations in a privat

t them at it, there was always the chance of a

matter of courtesy. Also I comforted myself by thinking that if anyone nee

ing the single wooden pillar upon which the latter stood. So the Harpies were justified, so far as this one phenomenon was concerned. The letters written down so rapidly by the daughter on large sheets of paper presented an apparently hopeless jumble, but when the sitting was over at the last, the Abbé and I were able to make out the words and sentences without great difficulty (he being accustomed to the task), and we then found a long, coherent, and at anyrate perfectly sensible, message addressed to him, and referring to the

t night; but I, for one, find no difficulty in thinking it conceivable that the great Apo

well written, but the only paragraph which remains in my memory was an exce

out for me next day, but

stretching down of

of Man, by his own effor

o me both te

I think we were all relieved when an adjournm

s, on the score of the age of the latter! The mother declared her daughter was forty-five; the daughter said: "Not a day over thirty-five," and intimated that she surely might be supposed to know her own age! The mother, however, murmured provokingly: "Moi,

nto the large lecture-room previously described, which w

ed platform stood my friend the Abbé looking very grave and rather nervous. A cardinal, two bishops, and some h

n cloth, and, in face of a partially indifferent and partially unfriendly audience, to declare boldly "the faith that was in him"-a faith that burned all the more brightly and warmly from the fact that it was being purged of the supersti

l ring, with a look of cynical amusem

em into line with other truths of the nineteenth century, proving the essential unity of all truth, and breaking down the fallacy that

worked very well for centuries past, and will work very well for centuries to come if fools don't attempt to upset the coach by restatement

rect opposition to the thrilling sentences of the Abbé Petit as he

t si vous ne la suivez pas-vous ser

pled round the audience. This puzzled me until a kind French lady sitting next to me explained that the audience were amused by the "très chers frères" (dearly

The powdered footman announced that his mistress had not yet emerged from her bedroom, and showed me up into the dining-room adjoining, where

rience of his of the previous night, which will certai

ule,' and then said she must leave me at once, in order to meet the Duchesse, who had just returned home. At that moment twelve o'clock struck from a neighbouring church, and I looked at my watch, and found it was indeed midni

ts the Duc de Pomar arrived, and almost immediately after him, Lady C

s much amused by the form of the

mander sans indiscrétion, a quelle h

swered readily enough: "Well, it must have been

de Pomar; "I heard a clock strike twelve just

urning to me in triumph. He then repeated his story, and I was abl

passing through Paris. I wrote to her the next year, when about to make a short stay in Paris, on returning from Algeria, and received an answer from the Riviera. She had been wintering there, and had been packed and ready

n), who was very grudging in her answers, and gave me the impression that she was accustomed

uld probably not have produced it in any case. So I turned away rather shortly, lea

her manner entirely changed, and becam

excuse me, so many come and ask for the Duchesse, and we have to be so very particular. But, of course, you must be th

er. No, not absolutely my last recollection: visiting Scotland in 1896, I made

gorgeous magnificence of her home and dress and surroundings. Yet I am inclined to thi

ave realised the shrewd, practical woman of business and of common-sense

paid to her, just after my return to England, for the purpose of arranging mat